Member of SAG-AFTRA - Artists Repertory Theatre

Alissa Jessup

LC Dawes — Fri, 27 May 2022 00:13:37 +0000

Alissa is an actor, writer & director who loves telling stories. She’s developed & performed more new plays than she can remember. Some favorites were with Sundance Theatre Lab, Artists Rep, LineStorm Playwrights, Circle X, NTUSA, 13P, and Playwrights Horizons.
Recently she wrote and performed her solo show, Chosen (Fertile Ground), played Laurie in Pipeline (Portland Playhouse) & Jessie in Sweat (Profile Theatre). She’s a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild. TV credits: Shrill, True Blood, The Mindy Project, Grimm. She’s an alumni of UCB NY & The Groundlings. Alissa teaches workshops and coaches actors, writers, & directors one on one how to embody their stories & shine their weirdo light!
BIG LOVE to Chris, Mom & Dad.

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Aubrey Saverino

LC Dawes — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 20:39:24 +0000

Aubrey Saverino is a writer and AEA, SAG-AFTRA actor with an MFA from The Old Globe/USD.

Her writing credits include The Fields of Asphodel (selected for the Red Bull Short Play Festival in 2018, published in 2019), Dido & Aeneas (selected for the Red Bull Short Play Festival in 2015, published in 2016), the television pilot Monogamish (selected for IFP’s 2015 Film Week at Lincoln Center), and episodes of the award-winning web series “The Digressions”.

As an actor, Aubrey has performed on screen (recently in Adam Sandler’s The Week Of on Netflix) and in professional Off-Broadway and regional theaters productions around the country including King Lear, Twelfth Night (The Old Globe); Henry IV Parts I & II, Twelfth Night (Independent Shakespeare Company); The Great Gatsby, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Orlando Shakespeare Theater); Pride & Prejudice (Capital Repertory Theatre); In The Next Room or the vibrator play (San Diego Repertory Theatre). Additional credits include Vineyard Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Furious Theatre Company, Chester Theatre Company, various commercial work and more.

She is also a Theater Instructor at Moorpark College. www.aubreysaverino.com

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Ayanna Berkshire

Casey Landreth — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:16:49 +0000

Ayanna (She, Her, Hers) is a professional actress based in the Pacific Northwest. She is a Resident Artist of Artists Repertory Theatre, member of Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA and recipient of the Round 14 TCG and Fox Fellowship Foundation grant for Distinguished Achievement. Ayanna is thrilled to join round 3 of the Mercury Project and continue to define and develop the DNA: Oxygen group alongside her friends and colleagues.

Ayanna’s work includes: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Portland Center Stage); The Revolutionists, Wolf Play, Teenage Dick, Small Mouth Sounds, Between Riverside and Crazy, An Octoroon, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Civil War Christmas, Grand Concourse, The Understudy, Intimate Apparel and Race (Artists Repertory Theatre) and The Scottsboro Boys (Dir. Susan Stroman, Ahmenson Theatre). www.ayannaberkshireinfo.com

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Brandon Contreras

Casey Landreth — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:17:06 +0000

Brandon played Hector in Artists Rep’s Cuba Libre.

TELEVISION: Mr. Robot (USA), Awkwafina is Nora from Queens (Comedy Central). NEW YORK: Almost Famous (Pre-Broadway), Road Show (City Center Encores!), Jerry Springer: The Opera (The New Group), The Connector (NYTW), Our Lady of 121st Street (Off-Broadway), The Secret Garden (Developmental Lab), & The Hamilton Mixtape (The Public Theater). He was also seen in the 1st National Tour of In the Heights & has worked at multiple regional theaters around the country. Brandon is a filmmaker who’s work focuses on the experience of Queer BIPOC narratives. He is also the co-creater, writer & executive producer of the sketch comedy platform, The Homo Sapien Experience (@TheHomoSapienExperience on all platforms)

Brandon is a graduate of Pace University with a BFA in Musical Theatre and a Minor in Dance. A huge thank-you to his incredible family for making his dreams a reality, and to Wolf Talent Group for their endless support. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. FOLLOW: @OhHey_Brandon

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Chris Harder

Casey Landreth — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:17:25 +0000

Chris is an actor, director and theatre maker dedicated to artistic risk and the creation of new work. He has performed in numerous productions over the past 20 years in Portland and has received multiple nominations and awards for outstanding performance. Chris was an original member of the Sowelu Theater Ensemble for seven seasons where, in addition to acting, he led theatre workshops and residencies with adult residents at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and Columbia River Correctional Institution in Oregon. He was an ongoing mentor with The Haven Project for five years where he guided young writers through the process of playwriting and continued the process with Playwrite Inc., Sojourn Afield and The Young Players. He continued to direct, teach, and create original plays through Portland Playhouse, Oregon Children’s Theatre and Portland Center Stage. At Artists Repertory Theatre he was Interim Director of Education (2007) and teaching artist with the “Actors to Go” school immersion program for several seasons. Chris teaches acting as a faculty member of the Actors Conservatory at Artists Rep, formerly the Portland Actors Conservatory, and co-directed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime as well as multiple Graduate Showcases. He offers private classes and coaching as a Resident Artist here at Artists Rep. Chris is currently developing a new online theatrical installation piece under the working title Time Capsule. www.chrisharder.com

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Claire Rigsby

Casey Landreth — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:18:54 +0000

Claire Rigsby (she/they) is an actor/maker/mover/shaker originally from Atlanta, GA. Claire is thrilled to be back on stage with Artists Rep (and Luan!) again after True Story, 1984, and The Thanksgiving Play. More recently, you may have seen Claire as Holly in Mrs. Harrison at Portland Center Stage, many characters in A Christmas Carol at Portland Playhouse, or sitting 10 feet in the air with co-creator India Roper-Moyes in “stitch by stitch,” their large-scale fiber installation for the Risk/Reward Festival.
Big thanks to Luan, the cast and crew, and Artists Rep for giving me the opportunity to keep playing, to my friends, family, and Forest for the unending love and support, and to YOU in the audience for supporting live theatre.

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Darius Pierce

Casey Landreth — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:18:20 +0000

Darius Pierce is happy to be back at Artists Repertory Theatre after Feathers and Teeth, Small Mouth Sounds, and The Strange Undoing of Prudentia Hart. Darius has worked in Portland theatre since 2002, including with Portland Center Stage, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Broadway Rose Theatre Company, Theatre Vertigo, Portland Playhouse, Shaking the Tree, Corrib Theare, 21ten Theatre, and other wonderful places. Outside Portland, his work includes shows at Woolly Mammoth (world premiere of Stupid F%&king Bird), Folger Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and Fiasco Theater. He is a co-founder of the Anonymous Theatre Company and a company member at Third Rail Repertory Theatre. Some Film/TV credits include Pig, Timmy Failure, “Leverage,” “Grimm,” “The Librarians,” and “Documentary Now!,”. Darius loves cooperative games, reading books recommended by his 12-year-old, drinking fancy teas, and collecting turtles. Thank you to his family for their support, and to you for spending time here with us!

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Diana Burbano

Casey Landreth — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 22:21:50 +0000

Diana Burbano (she/Ella) honored by the Los Angeles Times as part of “La Vanguardia,” is a Colombian immigrant playwright, actor, and resident artist with Center Theatre Group, The Latino Theatre Company, and Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble. Known for her compelling storytelling and commitment to Latinx representation, her work includes Ghosts of Bogotá, Sapience, and Fabulous Monsters, a Latinx punk rock play featuring the music of FEA.
Diana’s career spans national stages, with productions at The Public Theatre of San Antonio, Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, and Actors Theatre of Charlotte. Recent commissions include Center Theatre Group, Livermore Shakespeare, and HERO Theatre, and is a Geffen Playhouse Writers Lab alum. Her accolades include the Advance Gender Equity in the Arts Grant, the Bay Area Rella Lossy Award, and the Jane Chambers Award for Feminist Playwriting. She also represents Southern California on the Dramatists Guild council.

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Dré Slaman

Artists Repertory Theatre — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 23:40:16 +0000

Dré (she/her) is thrilled to be making her Artists Rep debut! She earned her MFA in Acting at Northern Illinois University, she has also studied at the Moscow Art Theatre and the William Esper Acting Studio. Dré’s theatre credits include: In the Name of Forgotten Women (Grito Productions/CoHo) Dark Sky Full of Stars (Theatre Vertigo), Men on Boats (Third Rail), The Happiest Song Plays Last (Profile Theatre), Nine Parts of Desire (Mo’elelo), Kiss (La Jolla Playhouse) and many more. Dré’s on-camera credits include GRIMM, MEDIUM, and METAL LORDS on Netflix. She serves on the Board of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and is Board Chair of the Oregon Children’s Theatre. She owns and operates local company Farm to Fit and just celebrated it’s 11^th anniversary! Her most important credit, however, is mom to her 8-year-old daughter Pierce.

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Elizabeth Elias Huffman

LC Dawes — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 05:29:34 +0000

Elizabeth Elias Huffman recently played Rose in the Los Angeles premiere of The Children and is delighted to dig deeper with such an amazing team of artists. She is the Artistic Director of Chain Reaction Theatre, an international production company currently located in the Pittsburgh area. Elizabeth is a multiple recipient of Portland’s Drammy Awards for directing and design and she is also an actor, teacher and playwright. She has directed or acted regionally in theatre around the USA and internationally in London, Scotland, and at various theatres in Germany.

Elizabeth spends most of her time creating theatre but she has also appeared in the independent films Mercy Street, Girl Before a Mirror, and Kiss of the Killer. She has guest starred on the series The Librarians, In The Vault, and plays The Headmistress in the upcoming film Who are You People, directed by Ben Epstein, currently in post-production.

As a playwright she has enjoyed critical success in her solo show Not My Revolution. The play continues to tour and has played in Germany, Portland, New Mexico, New York and will open at Carnegie Stages in Pittsburgh in June 2022. Not My Revolution was recently included in a new book titled Middle Eastern American Theatre by Dr. Michael Malek Najjar. Her new musical The Shakespeare Café is currently in development in Pittsburgh following an earlier version she directed for Bremer Shakespeare Company in Bremen, Germany in 2018. Elizabeth also wrote and directed a bilingual Day of the Dead play, Amor Añejo, for Milagro Theatre in 2019. She is currently writing and devising a new theatre project The Sphere of Human Folly.

Elizabeth has served as Artistic Director or Co-Artistic Director of four classical theatre companies. The Beacon Project in New York, The Classical Theatre Lab in Los Angeles, her international company ICAP in Los Angeles and The Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon in Portland.

As a director, she is known for her revisionist productions of classical plays. Some of her projects include: King John, The Tempest, The Trojan Women, The Revenger’s Tragedy, Mary Stuart, Lion in Winter, The Man of Mode, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Iphigenia in Aulis, Troilus and Cressida, Oedipus the King, Ladies Man, The Rope, Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like it, The Rehearsal, The Roman Actor, Poor Bitos, The Liars.

She has also directed or devised contemporary work including: Oedipus El Rey, Watsonville, Some Place Not Here, Night Breath, American Night, The Gift Horse, November, Somewhere Between the Sky and Sea, Landscape of Dreams in Seven Movements, Notes on Drowning, Playing with the Gods, and Amor Añejo.

As an actress Elizabeth has appeared in regional theatres in the United States, and internationally. Last summer she appeared in The Oldest Profession by Paula Vogel for Profile Theatre in Portland. Other regional theatre appearances include: 9 Parts of Desire (Best Actress award: Raleigh NC), Escaped Alone, Not My Revolution, The Absence of Wanting, We Made Bread, Year of the Rooster, Vanya, Sonya, Masha and Spike, String of Pearls, Iphigenia in Aulis, Phaedra, Evanescence or Shakespeare in the Alley, King Lear, Macbeth, Trojan Women, Hyde Park, Night Breath, The Lucky Chance, Charley’s Aunt, Boston Marriage, Summertime, The Bald Soprano, The Way of the World, and Whale Watchers.

Elizabeth has created an online course Fear of Shakespeare and she teaches and coaches actors in many countries. She has taught classical theatre at The Lee Strasberg Institute and Theatre of Arts in Los Angeles, The Portland Conservatory and has guest taught a variety of workshops from Shakespeare, Greek Theatre, Restoration, Myths and Masks and The Evolution of Theatre at festivals and schools in the USA and internationally.

She is a member of SAG/AFTRA, ACTORS EQUITY, SDC STAGE DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHERS, & is a member of MENA (Middle Eastern National Association)

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